Day 10 of the 22 Days of Thanksgiving: Whipped Sweet Potatoes with a Brown Sugar and Pecan Crust

If you aren’t a fan of sweet potatoes, this is the recipe that will convert you. It worked for my dad. This sweet potato dish is the only sweet potato he’ll eat. It helps that is has a crisp-like topping of butter, brown sugar and pecans. This side dish is so delicious and I have shared it many times by request. It comes from my mother’s dear friend who had them over for dinner and my mom came home raving about the sweet potatoes. Barbara was kind enough to share it with us and it is now a staple in our family.

First, the sweet potatoes are peeled, they are naturally quite hard so a quality vegetable peeler is very helpful. Next the sweet potatoes are sliced, and then placed in a large pot and covered with cold water and over high heat, brought to a boil.

The sweet potatoes are ready when they have boiled and are soft, but not water logged. Next, they get whipped with a hand mixer until smooth.

Now we add some flavor to the whipped sweet potatoes. Sugar, eggs and vanilla are added to melted butter and mixed well.

Pour in the egg and butter mixture and beat to incorporate.

The sweet potatoes are now spread into a 9×13 baking dish and await their topping.

The crust begins with butter, flour and brown sugar. Using a pastry cutter it is mixed until a crumb like texture.

Now the chopped pecans are added to the brown sugar mixture, stirred to mix and the sprinkled evenly on the sweet potatoes.

This sweet dish is ready to be baked. Doesn’t that look divine? Just wait until is comes out of the oven!

Oh man, see how the crisp has melted and created a crunchy, toffee like crust? You are going to love this!

In a medium bowl, whip the egg, melted butter and vanilla together, then add this to the sweet potatoes and blend well.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spread the sweet potatoes into a 9x13 baking dish.

For the topping: Mix the cold butter, flour and brown sugar with a pastry cutter until it has a crumb like texture.

Add the pecans and stir together.

The topping is now sprinkled on top of the sweet potatoes.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Recipe Notes

Note: I buy sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving time when they are inexpensive. I boil, mash and freeze them in ziplock bags, 3 cups per bag. It makes this recipe fast and easy. The topping is more than you need for 3 cups of sweet potatoes, but for most people the more the better.